Baalke on Fales: “He can make all of the throws.”

SANTA CLARA – Here is what Trent Baalke said about David Fales on Friday.

Q: What do you like about David Fales as a prospect?

BAALKE: I like a lot of things about David. He’s a very composed, a very smart football player. You look at him statistically – he has won a lot of games. He won a shootout this year in the Fresno game which I happened to be at. He’s got good arm talent. He can make all of the throws. He’s very accurate, especially in the short to intermediate game. There is a lot to like about David.

Q: You have drafted a few QBs who went to non-major-conference colleges, and many of the top QBs in this draft went to non-major-conference colleges. How do evaluate a QB who didn’t play the toughest competition every week?

BAALKE: You just do the best you can. The film is the film. What you have to try to do is quicken the game up in your own mind when you watch him because the game is going to get a lot faster. Do they have the physical traits to play the game faster? Ball speed – is it fast enough? Foot speed – is it quick enough? Because if it is, then you can see it translating. But if the ball speed isn’t there and they’re completely balls because the defenders aren’t quick enough or they aren’t fast enough to make plays on the ball, that obviously creates a red flag for you. The game is so much faster, even from LSU to the NFL. So you can imagine what it’s like for a quarterback from Eastern Illinois coming up to this level. I think that’s all you can do.